General Prologue: The Knight through the Man of Law

General Prologue: The Knight through the Man of Law

General Prologue: The Knight through the Man of Law

Summary

The narrator begins his character portraits with the Knight.
In the narrator’s eyes, the Knight is the noblest of the pilgrims,
embodying military prowess, loyalty, honor, generosity, and good
manners. The Knight conducts himself in a polite and mild fashion,
never saying an unkind word about anyone. The Knight’s son, who
is about twenty years old, acts as his father’s squire, or apprentice.
Though the Squire has fought in battles with great strength and
agility, like his father, he is also devoted to love. A strong,
beautiful, curly-haired young man dressed in clothes embroidered
with dainty flowers, the Squire fights in the hope of winning favor
with his “lady.” His talents are those of the courtly lover—singing,
playing the flute, drawing, writing, and riding—and he loves so
passionately that he gets little sleep at night. He is a dutiful
son, and fulfills his responsibilities toward his father, such as
carving his meat. Accompanying the Knight and Squire is the Knight’s
Yeoman, or freeborn servant. The Yeoman wears green from head to
toe and carries an enormous bow and beautifully feathered arrows,
as well as a sword and small shield. His gear and attire suggest
that he is a forester.

Next, the narrator describes the Prioress, named Madame
Eglentyne. Although the Prioress is not part of the royal court,
she does her best to imitate its manners. She takes great care to
eat her food daintily, to reach for food on the table delicately,
and to wipe her lip clean of grease before drinking from her cup.
She speaks French, but with a provincial English accent. She is
compassionate toward animals, weeping when she sees a mouse caught
in a trap, and feeding her dogs roasted meat and milk. The narrator
says that her features are pretty, even her enormous forehead. On
her arm she wears a set of prayer beads, from which hangs a gold
brooch that features the Latin words for “Love Conquers All.” Another
nun and three priests accompany her.

The Monk is the next pilgrim the narrator describes. Extremely handsome,
he loves hunting and keeps many horses. He is an outrider at his
monastery (he looks after the monastery’s business with the external
world), and his horse’s bridle can be heard jingling in the wind
as clear and loud as a church bell. The Monk is aware that the rule
of his monastic order discourages monks from engaging in activities
like hunting, but he dismisses such strictures as worthless. The
narrator says that he agrees with the Monk: why should the Monk
drive himself crazy with study or manual labor? The fat, bald, and
well-dressed Monk resembles a prosperous lord.

The next member of the company is the Friar—a member of
a religious order who lives entirely by begging. This friar is jovial, pleasure-loving,
well-spoken, and socially agreeable. He hears confessions, and assigns
very easy penance to people who donate money. For this reason, he
is very popular with wealthy landowners throughout the country.
He justifies his leniency by arguing that donating money to friars
is a sign of true repentance, even if the penitent is incapable
of shedding tears. He also makes himself popular with innkeepers
and barmaids, who can give him food and drink. He pays no attention
to beggars and lepers because they can’t help him or his fraternal
order. Despite his vow of poverty, the donations he extracts allow
him to dress richly and live quite merrily.

Tastefully attired in nice boots and an imported
fur hat, the Merchant speaks constantly of his profits. The merchant
is good at borrowing money, but clever enough to keep anyone from knowing
that he is in debt. The narrator does not know his name. After the
Merchant comes the Clerk, a thin and threadbare student of philosophy
at Oxford, who devours books instead of food. The Man of Law, an
influential lawyer, follows next. He is a wise character, capable
of preparing flawless legal documents. The Man of Law is a very
busy man, but he takes care to appear even busier than he actually
is.

Analysis

The Canterbury Tales is more than an
estates satire because the characters are fully individualized creations
rather than simple good or bad examples of some ideal type. Many
of them seem aware that they inhabit a socially defined role and
seem to have made a conscious effort to redefine their prescribed
role on their own terms. For instance, the Squire is training to
occupy the same social role as his father, the Knight, but unlike
his father he defines this role in terms of the ideals of courtly
love rather than crusading. The Prioress is a nun, but she aspires
to the manners and behavior of a lady of the court, and, like the
Squire, incorporates the motifs of courtly love into her Christian
vocation. Characters such as the Monk and the Friar, who more obviously
corrupt or pervert their social roles, are able to offer a justification
and a rationale for their behavior, demonstrating that they have
carefully considered how to go about occupying their professions.